Chapter 171: Chapter 167: Festival of Heaven’s Granary_1


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    After the twelfth lunar month, the New Year began. From the fifteenth to the neenth of the first lunar month, the family began to steam cakes, preparing food for the Heavenly Barn Festival.


    “Tian Cang”, also known as “Tian Cang”, means that the family’s granary is full and everyone is well-fed and clothed.


    Chun Niang and her two sisters-inw used rice, wheat, and bean flour to shape into shapes of Yuanbao, pots, bundles, sheep, cows, chickens, dogs fornterns, and steamed them in a cage.


    After that, they took it out and put a cotton thread into the steamed cakes in the shape ofnterns and poured a little castor oil into it.


    At night, the Jiang family lit these flour and ricenterns and ced them in every corner of the house, symbolizing flourishing poption, abundant grains, and plenty of livestock.


    Early the next day, all the men of the Jiang family went out to fetch water and soil. The water was poured into water tanks, and the soil was spread around the straw mats ced in a circle for grain storage.


    They then poured all the grain from the family’s grain bags into the grain storage until it was filled up and the grain piled up to form a sharp top, symbolizing wealth and happiness.


    Early in the morning, Chun Niang and her two sisters-inw were busy making meals, boiling a pot of crucian carp soup, and preparing dumplings and potstickers. They also fried the rice and flournterns fromst night inrd for the family to eat.


    Dumplings symbolize filling the barn, potstickers symbolize covering the barn, and drinking fish soup symbolizes having surplus every year. All of these are foods for the festival.


    While making dumplings, Chun Niang also shaped several small hedgehogs and mice with the dough and ced them in corners of the yard.


    Starting from the twentieth day of the first lunar month, known as “Small Tian Cang”, the family’s rice vat could not be left empty, the water tank could not be without water, and there had to be food in the pot at all times, even if it was just a few steamed buns.


    On the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, known as “Big Tian Cang”, Madam Jiang Liu used a sieve to fill the ashes pit with nt ashes.


    She carried the sieve in one hand and a small wooden stick in the other while walking and tapping. The green ashes that fell created a pattern of grain storage and grain heaps in the yard. Then, she sprinkled a variety of grains like rice and wheat within these three-ring and five-ring heaps drawn with green ashes, ced a few stones on the edges, and let her own chickens in to eat.


    This symbolized a full granary and an abundance of grains.


    At noon, the Jiang family brought out the altar table, hung out the painted image of the Warehouse Officer, and started to lightnterns, burn incense, and bow in worship to pay homage to the Warehouse Officer.


    After the Big Tian Cang, the entire Spring Festival in the first lunar month was consideredpletely over.


    Soon, it was the early days of March. The weather gradually warmed up, making it the perfect time for transntation of saplings.


    Yingbao took dozens of grapevine saplings and a pile of peppercorn shoots out of the cave house and secretly put them in the bamboo shed in her own yard.


    This bamboo shed had been assigned to Yingbao. Her father and the others had built a row of new bamboo sheds for mushroom cultivation in the vegetable garden outside the yard.


    “Dad, I’ve cultivated a lot of saplings again. Where do you think we should nt them?”


    Yingbao led her father into the bamboo shed and pointed to a pile of saplings on the ground, “This is the grapevine from the Western Region, and these are peppercorn shoots.”


    Jiang Sang squatted down and picked up a peppercorn shoot to inspect. “Is this really a peppercorn?”


    Peppercorn is a valuable item. Although many noble and powerful families are growing it now, the price remains incredibly high, and the supply still cannot meet the demand.


    But a small mountain vige like Chuanhe Town does not have any.


    Yingbao nodded: “It is peppercorn. I bought the peppercorn seeds from the Jiukang Pharmacy in the county town. There is no mistake.”


    Jiang Sang did not doubt his own daughter. He just felt it was unbelievable.


    Is his own daughter a human or a fairy?


    No matter what she brings out, there is nothing ordinary including the Magic Gourd that supposedly yields an endless supply of water that everyone in the family talks about.


    Jiang Sang felt that it should all have something to do with his own daughter. Jiang Quan, his second nephew, was just taking the me for Yingbao.


    But no matter what, as long as only he knew about his daughter’s magical skills and no matter what others said or suspected, he always refute them.


    “What should we pay attention to when growing peppercorn?” Jiang Sang asked.


    Since his daughter had cultivated these vine seedlings, she must also know some nting methods.


    Yingbao: “Peppercorn is drought-resistant, so it’s not suitable to be nted in damp ces. It’s best to nt it in sandy soil fields with good drainage. The same goes for grapevines.”


    This was what a shop assistant in therge pharmacy told her, who heard it from a pepper farmer.


    As for grapevines, she had grown them once, so she had some experience.


    Jiang Sang thought about it and said, “Why don’t we set up a vineyard and a peppercorn garden in our family?”


    Yingbao indeed had this idea, otherwise she would have just nted them herself.


    However, nting saplings requires a lot ofnd, so she had to get her father’s approval first.


    After the father and daughter discussed, Jiang Sang immediately went out to inspect thend.


    Finally, they decided to nt peppercorn and grapevines in an inferior field outside the vige.


    But this ce was remote, and the saplings were at risk of being damaged by wild creatures.


    So Jiang Sang asked some vigers for help and cut down some bamboo to make a bamboo fence around the two fields.


    Setting up a bamboo fence around two inferior fields was a bit extravagant and drew the vigers toe and watch.


    “Brother San, what are you doing?” Chen Yin asked while leaning on the bamboo fence.


    Jiang Sang was nting seedlings with Chun Niang with his head down, and said without looking up, “nting some grapes.”


    “Grapes?” Chen Yin knew about this. He had even secretly eaten grapes from Brother San’s orchard.


    “Are you nting grapes in this entire field? Isn’t that too much?”


    Fruit trees, after all, cannot be eaten as meals. It’s okay to nt one or two at home, but if too many are nted, it not only takes up thend, but may also increase taxes.


    Jiang Sang finished nting a seedling, “It’s not too much. If we can’t finish eating, we can make wine.”


    If worsees to worst, we can directly sell it to the winery in the county. His little daughter said so.


    Chen Yin scratched his head and pointed to the bamboo fence next door, “Are you nting grapes there too?”


    “We’re nting peppercorn there.” Jiang Sang used his hand to scoop up the soil, and put the grapevine seedling in it, and then filled it with soil to firm it.


    “What? Peppercorn!” Chen Yin jumped up, his eyes glowing with excitement, “Brother San, can you grow peppercorn too?”


    Peppercorn is a good thing. It’s valuable and is sold without any issue, as all the pharmacies in the county are scrambling to buy it.


    Jiang Sang nced at him, but didn’t say a word.


    Chen Yin ran into the bamboo fence gate and asked blinking, “Brother San, do you have peppercorn seedlings at home?”


    “Yeah.” Jiang Sang didn’t stop his hands, just continued to nt another grapevine.


    Chen Yin chuckled, “Can you spare some for your brother?”


    “Let’s talk about it when the peppercorn shoots grow a bit bigger.”


    His little daughter said that peppercorn vines can be cut and transnted, so they wouldn’t need peppercorn seeds to cultivate seedlings anymore.


    “Then I, your brother, will make a reservation first.” Chen Yin squatted down to help Jiang Sang nt seedlings.


    Some vigers who were watching outside saw this, and after looking at each other, they also rushed in to help nt seedlings.


    With people helping, the grapevines in a piece ofnd were quickly nted, and then it was time to nt the peppercorn seedlings.


    Peppercorn is a climbing nt. Jiang Sang first nted a circle around the bamboo fence, so they wouldn’t need to set up climbing frames for them in the future.


    Afterward, they estimated the distance and continued nting until the entire peppercorn garden was full of seedlings.


    When these seedlings grow a bit bigger, they would then set up climbing frames for them.


    While Jiang Sang and his wife and a few vigers were nting seedlings, Yingbao was watering them from behind with a small bucket.


    She used water from the cave house, mixed with a little pond water, and thoroughly watered each seedling.


    Soon, both gardens were full of young seedlings. The fresh green color and orderly arrangement were very pleasing to the eye.